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Pajama Party
Updated 4/22/2008.
cast
Tommy Kirk, Annette Funicello, Jody McCrea, Elsa Lanchester, Jesse White, Harvey Lembeck, Susan Hart, Donna Loren, Bobbi Shaw, Buster Keaton, Dorothy Lamour, Candy Johnson, Don Rickles, Frankie Avalon (voice only), Dorothy Kilgallen, and Toni Basil, and Teri Garr.
Images from AIP's fourth beach party installment Pajama Party. LEFT: Tommy Kirk as Go-Go the Martian, Annette Funicello as Connie, and Elsa Lanchester as Aunt Wendy. CENTER B and C: Susan Hart as Jilda. CENTER D: Hart and Mary Hughes play volleyball. RIGHT: As Eric Von Zipper, Harvey Lembeck is flanked by Mary Hughes and an unidentified bathing beauty
plot synopsis
Pajama Party was the first American International film for Tommy Kirk. Here, he's paired with fellow former Disney protege Annette Funicello, a beach bunny who is tired of her boyfriend "Big Lunk" (Jody McCrea). Kirk portrays Go-Go, a bumbling alien sent to Earth to inflitrate society to see if the planet is worth taking over. He first runs into Aunt Wendy (Elsa Lanchester), a rich, daft widow who runs a boutique for the teens.
LEFT: Big Lunk (Jody McCrea) and Connie (Annette Funicello). CENTER: Bobbi Shaw as Helga. RIGHT: Bobbi Shaw and Buster Keaton as Chief Rotten Eagle
Meanwhile, J. Sinister Hulk (Jesse White) schemes to steal Aunt Wendy's millions; he rents a house next to hers so he can discover where she hides her money. Hulk enlists the aid of Helga (Bobbi Shaw) and Chief Rotten Eagle (Buster Keaton) in order to lure the whereabouts of Aunt Wendy's millions out of Big Lunk.
LEFT: Buster Keaton and Bobbi Shaw. CENTER: Another shot of Bobbi Shaw. RIGHT: Bobbi Shaw tries to soothe Jesse White
Hulk hires Eric Von Zipper and the Rats and Mice to pose as typical American teens at a pajama party he's throwing; this is just a ruse to get into Aunt Wendy's house to find the millions. The beach gang eventually runs the Rats and Mice off, and in the end, Go-Go's ineptitude foils Mars' attempts to invade Earth. Go-Go and Connie become and item, and Big Lunk gets together with Helga.
LEFT: Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) with the Rats and Mice. CENTER A: Big Lunk and the gang play volleyball. CENTER B: Big Lunk gets knocked out. RIGHT: Promotional still featuring Susan Hart, Donna Loren, Cheryl Sweeten, and Annette Funicello. Sweeten was Miss Colorado 1963
Annette Funicello performs most of the songs heard on the Pajama Party soundtrack, written by Guy Hemric and Jerry Styner. Annette Funicello also does a duet with Tommy Kirk on There Has to Be a Reason. Beach party regular Donna Loren has just one song here, Among the Young, and Dorothy Lamour makes a guest appearance singing Where Did I Go Wrong.
AIP's beach party flicks always had plenty of music, and Pajama Party doesn't disappoint. LEFT: Annette Funicello's Pajama Party album cover. CENTER A: Donna Loren sings Among the Young as Candy Johnson frugs. CENTER B: Donna Loren and Annette Funicello. RIGHT: Promotional photo with Donna Loren, Jody McCrea, Harvey Lembeck, and Candy Johnson
trivia
- This is the only beach party film in which Annette Funicello is named Connie; in her other five beach party movies, her character is named Dolores, or Dee Dee for short.
- Look for Toni Basil and Teri Garr as two of the pajama girls. Both Basil and Garr made their film bows in 1964, and both also got their starts in show business as go-go dancers. If you watch The TAMI Show, theatrically released in 1965, you can catch glimpses of Garr. And Basil is featured as an actress and dancer in Village of the Giants, released in 1965.
- Look for Gus Trikonis as a pajama boy in the film; Trikonis is now known for directing many TV shows and TV movies and was Goldie Hawn's first husband.
- Beautiful Susan Hart, who acted in several films in the early to mid 1960s, had a different role in private life: in 1965, she married James Nicholson, who was executive producer for and part-owner of American International.
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This page premiered January 22, 1999.
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